Reignover Turns His Back On Immortals As The Team’s Implosion Climaxes

Rest in peace Immortals, there is no silver lining to this news. After Support Adrian “Adrian” Ma, opted to leave in favour of last season’s relegation strugglers Phoenix1, the alarm bells were ringing loud and clear for Immortals fans. The fate of the team is now sealed, as undoubtedly the best Jungler in the west, Yeu-jin “Reignover” Kim has announced his decision to leave Immortals to pursue new opportunities.

Reignover is the third, and most significant member of Immortals’ initial roster to ditch the organisation during the offseason. Immortals have not yet announced who will be replacing the three players on their roster for the coming season – whoever they bring on board to replace Reignover, they’ll struggle to fill the void left by the 2016 Spring Split MVP. The future for Immortals looks very bleak indeed.

Source: Riot Games Flickr

Following Immortals’ failure to reach the World Championships in September, Immortals’ CEO Noah Whinston gave all five members of their League of Legends roster the option to pursue offers from other organisations, and actively placed some of them with teams attending Worlds. Notably, Reignover travelled to coach to Counter Logic Gaming’s Jake “Xmithie” Puchero ahead of the event:

“Effective today, I’ve given permission to every Immortals player to seek offers from other organisations, even while still under contract with us.

“I want our team next year to be build up of players that choose to be a part of Immortals, not ones that feel like they’re forced to be.

“Because of that, we recognise the importance of allowing our players to seek outside offers and allowing them to understand the full breadth of opportunities available to them.”

Noah Whinston, Immortals CEO

Source: Immortals

Naturally, it hasn’t taken Reignover long to find greener pastures. Though the open approach to play negotiation is admirable, there must be an underlying regret that they didn’t keep the star jungler on lock.

“After spending 2016 on Immortals as our jungler, Yeujin “Reignover” Kim will be moving on to seek new opportunities.

“We’d like to thank Reignover for his tireless effort during his time on the team; he was a key member of Immortals as we entered the LCS and competed throughout the Spring and Summer Splits.

“Our success during the regular season wouldn’t have been possible without him and we wish him nothing but the best with his next professional pursuits.

“Reignover leaves Immortals as a more mature and experienced player, and we know that he’ll be able to use these skills to reach new heights at his next opportunity.”

Immortals Official Statement

The scene expects great things from Reignover, with many tipping him to return to Korea and potentially challenge for the Jungling role on three-time World Champions SK Telecom T1. With Bae “Bengi” Seong-ung set to retire and Kang “Blank” Sun-gu underperforming, there’s certainly a case to suggest that Reignover could be up for the biggest role in the world of League of Legends. The rumours closer to home are that Team Liquid are lining up a heavy offer to bring the former Fnatic man on board.

Rumours of an Immortals implosion have been proven true. The next prophesy expects the team to bid farewell to their other headline Korean talent, Top laner Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon. It’s difficult to imagine Huni staying considering the established relationship between the pair – the only reason Reignover came to NA was because Huni wanted to.

Source: Lolesports

Reignover’s departure is a hammer blow to the team’s chances of reaching Worlds on the second time of asking. There’s very little left for an Immortals fan to cling on to – any success the team enjoyed throughout the 2016 regular season stands for nothing when the team’s very foundations have been removed.